Battle lines sharpen as 19 RS MPs suspended

Goyal said despite assurances by the government, the Opposition disturbed the proceeding and infringed on the rights of the other members to ask questions and participate in the debates.

Nineteen members from five opposition parties were suspended from the Rajya Sabha for the rest of the week on Tuesday, deepening the fault lines between the treasury and Opposition benches in the ongoing monsoon session roiled by disruptions.

(ANI)

This is the highest number of lawmakers to have been suspended from the Upper House in a single day, and came a day after four Congress members were suspended from the Lok Sabha for the rest of the session for alleged misconduct. In November 2021, during the winter session, 12 opposition MPs were suspended for the remainder of the session in the Rajya Sabha.

The suspension came on a motion moved by the government for “misconduct” and showing “utter disregard to the House and the authority of the chair”. It was passed in a voice vote, over the loud objections of several opposition parties.

Seven of the suspended members are from the Trinamool Congress (TMC), six from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, three from the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), two from the Communist Party of India -Marxist, and one from the Communist Party of India.

The suspension sparked a blame game. The Opposition accused the government of not allowing a discussion on price rise but the government claimed the disruptions were unwarranted as it had agreed to the demand in meeting of the business advisory committee, which allocates time for parliamentary discussion and debates.

Union minister Piyush Goyal said the government was ready for discussion and the decision to suspend the 19 members was taken with a heavy heart. “The chairman has decided to suspend a few members of opposition parties. We have repeatedly stated that we are ready for discussion on any issue including price rise and have agreed to their demand for a discussion on the issue…. (But) they are continuously disturbing the proceedings of the House,” said Goyal, who is the leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha.

But the Opposition blamed the government of trying to dodge a debate. “With the suspension of Opposition MPs from both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, it is abundantly clear that Modi Sarkar is no mood to allow the Opposition to raise REAL, URGENT issues being faced by the people of our country in Parliament,” said Congress leader Jairam Ramesh.

The suspended members are TMC’s Sushmita Dev, Mausam Noor, Shanta Chhetri, Dola Sen, Santanu Sen, Abir Ranjan Biswas, Md. Nadimul Haque, DMK’s M. Mohamed Abdulla, S. Kalyanasundaram, R. Girirajan, NR Elango, Kanimozhi NVN Somu and M. Shanmugam; TRS’s B Lingaiah Yadav, Ravichandra Vaddiraju and Damodar Rao Divakonda; CPI(M)’s AA Rahim and V Sivadasan; and CPI’s Sandosh Kumar.

The monsoon session began on July 18 but has been marked by acrimony on issues of high inflation and GST (goods and services tax) on household essentials. In the Lok Sabha on Monday, Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla suspended four MPs who stormed the well of the House holding placards under Rule 374(2) “for serious note of misconduct in utter disregard of the House and the authority of the Chair.” The four parliamentarians -- Manickam Tagore, TN Prathapan, S Jothimani and Ramya Haridas -- staged a protest in front of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue in the Parliament complex, alleging that their suspension amounted to “murder of democracy”. They were joined by leaders of Left parties, Nationalist Congress Party, DMK and the Congress.

As soon as the Upper House proceedings began on Tuesday, the Opposition demanded that the day’s business be suspended to take up discussions under Rule 256 on price rise and GST implementation on everyday items such as milk and curd. After the House was adjourned twice, minister of state for parliamentary affairs V Muraleedharan moved a motion under Rule 256 to suspend 19 MPs from the sitting of the House for the remainder of the week. Rajya Sabha vice-chairman Harivansh, who was presiding over the House at that point, read out the names of 19 members when the motion was put to vote.

Speaking outside Parliament, some Opposition members said they sought a division, but as the House was not in order, the chair put the motion to vote. It was passed by a voice vote. The House was adjourned thrice after the suspension motion was passed as the Opposition MPs did not leave the House. The adjournment was for 15 minutes, then for an hour, and finally for the day.

DMK leader Tiruchi Siva said the government did not give any assurance on when the discussion would take place. He said the Opposition was “compelled” to protest. “Earlier they used to convey a tentative date and reach out to the Opposition in the chairman’s chamber, now we are in the dark. What they have done today is undemocratic, because the disruption is part of democracy and the opposition acted as per norms of parliamentary democracy,” he said.

TRS MP Nama Nageshwar Rao said there was a problem with the government’s floor management and no efforts were made to break the deadlock. “On Monday, they suspended MPs in the Lok Sabha, today 19 in RS…suspending MPs will not solve the problem,” Rao said.

The government blamed the Opposition. Goyal said the government was hopeful of a discussion on price rise when Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who is unwell, is back at work.

Goyal said despite assurances by the government, the Opposition disturbed the proceeding and infringed on the rights of the other members to ask questions and participate in the debates.

But this argument was rejected by the Opposition. “Oppn parties have conveyed to govt a week ago that they wish FM a speedy recovery and that ANY CABINET MINISTER can reply to the discussion on #pricerise #Parliament, A thought : is the PM too busy to reply on this “unimportant subject” ?” tweeted TMC leader and Rajya Sabha MP, Derek O’Brien.

In the past, several members were suspended for various reasons. In September 2020, eight Rajya Sabha members -- O’Brien (TMC), Sanjay Singh (AAP), Rajeev Satav (Congress), KK Ragesh (CPI-M), Syed Nazir Hussain (Congress), Ripun Bora (Congress), Dola Sen (TMC) and Elamaram Kareem (CPI-M) -- were suspended for unruly behaviour in the House. The motion was passed by a voice vote.

Later that year, seven Congress members — Gaurav Gogoi, TN Prathapan, Dean Kuriakose, Rajmohan Unnithan, Manickam Tagore, Benny Behanan and Gurjeet Singh Aujla -- were suspended from the Lok Sabha during the Budget session of Parliament.

In January 2019, then Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan suspended 45 members of the TDP and AIADMK for disrupting the proceedings for days. In 1989, 63 MPs were suspended for three days from the Lok Sabha.